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Treadway Tire Company

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* The second problem for The Treadway Tire Company is the lack of good leadership approach. The first source of this problem is the failure of management to provide adequate training to foremen. Whenever a foreman joins the company, he only receives informal training at the discretion of the general supervisor and area manager. One of the general supervisor, Herb Adams, is reported to have said that he tell guys to take control to survive on the plant floor and keep their eyes open for the trouble makers. The managers want the foremen to adopt the old tied-and-true management like they did in old days. This is an example of Laissez-fare leadership style which is characterized by having very little guidance from managers, complete freedom for followers (foremen) to make decisions and is expected to solve problems on their own. Notice that laissez fare only works best when the followers (foremen) have the necessary skills and knowledge to complete their task. This is a major challenge for foremen who are expected to perform best without having the mandatory training to enhance their skills and knowledge. The absence of proper training leads to job dissatisfaction. Exhibit 5 shows the Sample Exit Interview filled out by a line foreman, which states the clear reason for leaving job is job dissatisfaction. He also described that his supervisor would just say “Do it” without having received any training on how to do the job. This also leads to low morale in foremen and they were less motivated to do the job. Job dissatisfaction also affects the productivity of employees which directly hinders the goals of the company. As it is mentioned in the case, the turnover rate was The Treadway Tire Company is increasing with time due to foemen leaving their job.
The second source of the problem is the presence of informal structure. The main reason that leads to it is the poor

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